A Mixed Methods Study: How Cultural messages Through Experiences Influence Occupational Pursuit of Muslim Female Computer Science Students

Authors

Maral KargarmoakharFollow

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Major/Program

Computer Science

First Advisor's Name

Monique Ross

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee chair

Second Advisor's Name

Mark Allen Weiss

Second Advisor's Committee Title

committee member

Third Advisor's Name

Leonardo Bobadilla

Third Advisor's Committee Title

committee member

Fourth Advisor's Name

Nagarajan Prabakar

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

committee member

Fifth Advisor's Name

Zahra Hazari

Fifth Advisor's Committee Title

committee member

Keywords

computer science, women, Muslim, non-Muslim, participation

Date of Defense

11-4-2022

Abstract

Women are underrepresented in the field of computer science in the United States.
However, this is not a new problem as female participation in computer science has been experiencing a steady decline over the last three decades. Current reporting on women’s participation in this field has been published as steadying at around 18 percent. Meanwhile, there are varying levels of participation in other countries, particularly in Muslim majority countries. For example, women in Bahrain, Morocco, Palestine, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Tunisia earned more than half of the total number of science degrees in their respective nations. This stark contrast between the United States and these other countries has prompted an exploration into the factors that contribute to women’s participation in computer science.
This thesis focuses on understanding how cultural environment can affect the
participation of women in computer science, specifically with respect to individual,
household, community, country, and global influences on occupational pursuit. The
guiding theoretical framework is multi-level (micro and macro) cultural theory, to
answer the following research questions: 1) How do micro and macro level cultural
influences impact Muslim identified women’s intention to pursue a computer science undergraduate degree? 2) How do experiences differ in their impact on pursuing a computer science degree for Muslim women as compared to non-Muslim women in the United States? To answer these questions, I employed a sequential exploratory mixed methods design that leveraged interviews, a survey, qualitative analysis, as well as statistical analysis. The results of this work are important to shedding light on the ways to increase engagement of women in computer science in the United States.

Identifier

FIDC010952

ORCID

0000-0002-7091-7653

Previously Published In

Kargarmoakhar, M., & Ross, M. S. (2019, June). How cultural messages through experiences influence occupational pursuit of Muslim female computer science students. In 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Kargarmoakhar, Maral, "A Mixed Methods Study: How Cultural messages Through Experiences Influence Occupational Pursuit of Muslim Female Computer Science Students" (2022). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5162.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/5162